Storage box



,R F. DAVIS Feb. 1, 1949.

STORAGE BOX Filed June 4, 1946 lin J mkv.

Patented Feb. 1, 1949 UNITED STATES ATsNr oFFlCs Y Robert F; Davis, West Palm Beach, Fla. .f Application June 4, 1946,` Serial No. 674,220

cupboards, thereisalways Va demand or still 1- more storage space Aso arranged that the ycontents arereadily accessible. .'O'neparticular problem has been the storage of shoesland it has been mainly for the. purpose lof providing` a better storage arrangementlvfor shoes that the present invention hasbeenl made. f

Shoe racks have Ybeen built into closets,Y under beds and in dresser' drawers.y Shoe boxes have been placed in closets and shoe racks fastened to closet doors'. None'of these arrangements has been entirely satisfactory; In many oi them the shoes become dusty or rub against other garments and in others the Ashoe boxes orv shoe racks clutter up the closet floor or provide an undesiredobstacleon the-door of the closet. The present invention avoids the difliculties, keeps the shoes easily accessible, substantially dust-free, oit of the floor and out of the way. l

Briefly, the present "inventionlcomprises a .box adapted to contain shoes or any 'otherY object cr objectsA whichare to be stored and which box is particularly adapted to be mounted just above and just inside of the door of a clothes closet. The box is so mounted that it normally occupies the space just above and just inside of a closet door, which space is otherwise unoccupied and unused. The box is also mounted so that it can be pulled downward to a position below the upper sill of the closet door and one face of the box is open to permit easy access to the contents,

when the box is in its lowered position. Thus' when the box is properly installed, it remains out of sight and out of the way just inside of and above the closet door. When it is desired to reach the contents, the box is pulled to a lower posif tion by means of a handle affixed to it, and while in this positionthe contents may be inserted or removed. By providing a spring or counterweighted suspension, the box may be caused to remain in either its uppermost or its lowermost position once it has been placed there and regardless of whether or not it contains an object or objects t-o be stored. Thus, once the user pulls the box down,'it can be arranged to stay down until the user takes from or places in the 3 Claims. (C1. 312-112) Y 2 box an object or objects, and then, after the user has pushed the box'into the uppermost position, the box will stay in that position until the user again pulls it down.

l Further details and advantages -oi this invention will be apparent from the appended drawings and thefollowing detailed description o the embodiments illustrated thereinI In the drawings:

` Figure 1 is a 'rear elevational view of a device embodying the principles of this invention mounted in an ordinary clothes closet.

Figure 2 is a sidefsectional view of the same de'vice'taken on lines 2-72v of Figure l.` Y.

The ordinary clothes closet door comprises a doorlrame Ill mounted in.an opening in a wall `II. The preferred form of the deviceof this invention comprisesv a U-shaped frame I2 mounted on the upper end of the door frame I9 by a series of screws I3. The U-shaped frame vI2 is preferably ofsuch a shape that it will fit over the upper end of the door frameY Ii! and extend a distance lof some twelve-or fourteen inches above it. vOn, this frame is mountedy a box IILbymeans of a pair of metal bales l5. and y lli. Each of thev bales is of `U-shape with-outturned ends. t They ends of the Uk-.portion extend into openings I'I rcut in the frame I2 andthe outturned ends are`received in holes drilled laterally through the frame IZinto the openings Il. The bales I5 and I6 Vare thus mounted in the frame I2 at each end and in such a manner that they are free to rotate through an arc of 90 or more.

The box I4 is connected to the center section of each of the U-shaped members by means of hangers I8 mounted on the bottom and top thereof. By this arrangement the box is positioned laterally in the closet and prevented from tilting, but at the same time is permitted to move up and down from a position just above the top of the closet door to a position somewhat below the top of the closet door and back again.

When the box is in its uppermost position as shown in full lines in Figure 2, the space nearest the closet door is closed by the upper part of the frame I2. When it is in its downwardmost position, the same side of the box is left open and hence the box is readily accessible to a lperson standing just youtside of the closet doorway. A spring I9 .fastened to the upper end of the frame I2 and to the middle of the upper bale I5 serves to hold the box in its upward position. If the spring is of the proper strength, it will hold the box in its upper position but will not move from its downward position, once it has .can be made to be removable so that they can be used, or not, at will.

In some instances, it will. be found desirable to slope the rear wall of the box making the box somewhat narrower at its lower end so that it will miss the shelves in a very shallow closet, or will aiord more room for access to the shelves when it is in its upper position. In such a case, for example, the box might be deep enough for womens shoes in its lower shelf and deep enough for mens shoes in the upper shelf and still be shallow enough in depth to be satisfactory in a quite shallow closet. y

Although the box illustratedV has been shown as mounted upon a ,pair of U-shaped bales I5 and l, it can be mounted upon slides, or some mechanical arrangement different from either of these may be used to move the box from its upperv position to its lower position. Furthermore, by properly shaping the bales or slides, or properly arranging the other lowering mechanism, the box can be caused to move downward until it clears the upper edge of the door and then moved both downward andhoutward so that its nal position-is somewhatbelow the top of the door and somewhat ahead 4ofthe rear face of the door jamb. v

The preferred application of the principles of this invention is to the use of otherwise waste spa-ce just above and just inside of a clothes closet door. It is contemplated, however, that such boxes may be used over other doors or Veven in places where there arenot doors but where it is desired to store something in an otherwise wasted overhead space. The principal object of the invention, however, is the utilization o f the waste space just inside and just over the door of a clothes closet 'or the like and it is here that the invention nds its most useful application.

rIhe box may contain partitions 2| andV What is claimed is:

1. In a construction of the type described, a room of the nature of a clothes closet, a doorway for access to said room, the top of said doorway being positioned a substantial distance below the ceiling of the room, thus leaving a normally unused space just above and just inside of the doorway, a box of a. size and shape to be received in said space, means adapted to be attached to the wall above the doorway and to support said box in said space, and to permit said box to be lowered for a limited distance to a position below the top of the doorway, said means being arranged to at all times maintain said box against rotation, saidr box having an opening in one face thereof which is closed by the wall of the closet when the boxV is in its upper position and through which the contents of the box are accessible from the doorway when the box is in its lower position.

v2.. A retractable storage box for use at a doorway that comprises a supporting frame adapted to be attached tothe wall above the doorway, a box normally adapted to be positioned horizontally adjacent said frame and having the side adjacent said frame open, a reciprocating connection between said frame and said box for maintaining said box against rotation but permitting said box to move downwardly to a position below the frame and upwardly to a position in horizontal alignment with said frame, and

Y counterbalancing means connected between said `frame and said box for counterbalancing the REFERENCES CITED The following references are of'record inthe file of this patent:

UNITED "sTATEs PATENTS Number Name Date 108,930 Murdock Nov. 1, 18.70 1,442,579 McArthur Jan. 16, 1923 1,985f593 Allen Dec. 25,l 1934 2,181,399

Forbes Nov. 28, 1939 

